She was a swindler; now she has become a very paid painter: Who is Anna Sorokin?

Anna Sorokin, a German citizen of Russian origin, who introduced herself as a wealthy heiress named “Anne Delvey” and became a part of New York society, and was later tried and sentenced on charges of defrauding luxury hotels and banks, was under house arrest in New York for a while. It's rumored that she's a "painter" these days.

Anna Sorokin, who lived a life of luxury by introducing herself to New York society as the sole heir to a fortune of $67 million under the pseudonym "Anna Delvey", was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to prison for defrauding luxury hotels and banks for $275,000. Released on February 21, 2021, 31-year-old Sorokin was detained again by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation because her visa was passed.

Sorokin, who spent a year and a half in custody, was placed under house arrest last year on the condition that she wears an electronic cuff on her ankle, stay in the same house for 24 hours, and stay away from social media.

Sorokin's story gained international attention after an article about him in New York Magazine by Jessica Pressler in 2018. Netflix proposed to Shonda Rhimes, producer of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, that Sorokin's life be turned into a Netflix series. Thus, Sorokin's story was adapted into a TV series with the name "Inventing Anna", starring Julia Garner.

She was the daughter of a humble immigrant family

Contrary to what she told those around her, Sorokin's family lived a rather modest life. Her father was a truck driver. Her mother was a housewife who had worked in a supermarket in the past. She was born in January 1991 in the city of Domodedovo, near Moscow. She moved to Germany with her family in 2007.

She moved from Germany to London in 2011 to continue her education at Central Saint Martins, known for its painting and design departments. However, she dropped out of school and returned to Germany. She then moved to Paris and started an internship at the fashion magazine Purple. She started using Delvey, which she claims was her mother's surname, while she was in Paris.

(Sorokin's parents told New York Magazine that, contrary to what their daughter had claimed, there was no trust fund and no one in their family had the last name "Delvey".)

NEW YORK DAYS

Anna Sorokin moved to New York in 2013. She says she is the daughter of one of Germany's wealthiest families, she was fast making a circle in New York high society.

She was talking about the Anna Delvey Foundation, which she told wealthy people she would meet, and she was asking if they wanted to be an investor. For this arts-focused foundation, they would rent the Church Missions House, one of Manhattan's historic buildings, and use it as an art studio and event space.

She also befriended the wealthy socialites she met, making them pay for the hotels she stayed at, the planes she took, and the meals she ate. She promised to repay the expenses but "forgets" afterward.

FAILED TO BRING INVESTORS, HE TAKES ANOTHER WAY

When she could not gather as much investor support as she had imagined, she resorted to a different path. She created various fake bank records showing she had around 60 million euros in Swiss banks. She has made numerous loan applications using these documents. However, when suspicions increased due to some inconsistencies in the documents, she withdrew their application to avoid attracting attention. On the other hand, she was traveling from hotel to hotel without registering a credit card and was accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

She was expelled from the hotel after she finally paid off her $30,000 debt at the 11 Howard Hotel in Soho with the money she collected by cashing bad checks. From here she moved to the Beekman Hotel.

However, she was expelled from there because she did not pay her $11,518 debt to Beekman. She then moved to Union Square, New York, but was fired from there within two days. Both hotels filed complaints with the police about Anna Delvey. Finally, in 2017, the Manhattan Attorney's Office launched an investigation into various bank scams, and what came next was like a ripple.

ROBIN HOOD OR MILLENIUM DISEASE?

As striking details of Sorokin's scams emerged, the image of the "fake German heir" became an internet phenomenon. Those who loved this young woman loved it very much, and those who did not love it did not like it at all. But in every way, Sorokin's popularity was growing.

According to some, she was a kind of Robin Hood, a folk hero who gave the measure of his height to the rich who did not share her earnings with anyone. For some, it was one of the most vivid examples of millennial dissatisfaction with life.

Sorokin went to court in December 2018, and the case was concluded on March 20, 2019. In the same year, she was convicted of eight separate crimes. Three of them were grand theft and one was a grand theft attempt. Until recently, however, Sorokin said that her plans to establish the Anna Delvey Foundation were perfectly legitimate. "If I said I'm sorry for anything I've done, I would be lying to you, to myself, and to everyone else," Delvey told the New York Times in 2019. "But I regret the way I did some things."

NOW A PAINTER:

One of the paintings she made in prison is in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art today.

Artist and curator Alfredo Martinez opened an exhibition to support Anna.

The title of the exhibition, which took place in New York in March 2022, was “Free Anna Delvey”.

Among them were interesting artists, such as Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend Rina Oh, who argued that it was "normal and perfectly New York behavior for women to use men to stand out in the male-dominated art world."

Part of the proceeds of the exhibition went to Anna.

The painting titled “Send Bitcoin”, made by Anna herself, was also sold at the exhibition.

In the picture, Anna is sitting at the computer with her back turned; prison stockings, a T by Alexander Wang gown, and an Agent Provocateur top and handcuffs, which she points to as accessories.

She reads e-mails from her fans, and to the e-mail that reads, "If you need anything, let me know", Anna's answer is also clear: "Send Bitcoin."

Later, Anna also had a solo exhibition in New York.

Now, out of prison but still under house arrest, it has been announced that Anna earned $340,000 in 2022 from her drawings.

Original works cost between $17,000 and $25,000.

Among its collectors are lawyers, founders of technology companies, and politicians.

Interest in her work has skyrocketed after the New York Post published an article about the art career of convicted swindler-turned-artist Anna Delvey.

One condition for Anna Delvey's release, who is still under house arrest, is banning her from using social media.

But this did not prevent the development of her artistic career.

“I am happy that my work is getting so much attention, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to tell my side of the story through my art. I try not to take myself too seriously, all my work is filled with irony. I hope to turn the attention of all the media to something positive and productive,” sums up Anna Delvey.

Now, truth and falsehood, truth and falsehood are intertwined.

Anna's art club dream is coming true now, at least for a bit.

And honestly, Anna's fan club has already formed, if not thanks to this exhibition.

But is Anna really talented, do her works have artistic value?

That we will never know for sure.

https://www.instagram.com/theannadelvey/